cover image Every Thought Captive: Battling the Toxic Beliefs That Separate Us from the Life We Crave

Every Thought Captive: Battling the Toxic Beliefs That Separate Us from the Life We Crave

Jerusha Clark, . . NavPress/Think Books, $12.99 (247pp) ISBN 978-1-57683-868-6

Wife, mom and self-confessed overthinker, Clark (I Gave Dating a Chance ) offers Christian women contemplative reasons for taking their innermost thoughts to task. She debunks the "self-improvement" plan, insisting that Christ alone offers freedom from "toxic" thinking. She speaks to fellow strugglers she believes are wasting their precious lives believing the lie that they are worthless and tries to free them from the strangleholds of covetousness, unforgiveness, impurity and self-abasement. Clark's self-disclosing style effectively draws close the wary skeptic as she offers substantive hope for lasting change. Clearly, acquiring healthy mental habits and consistency in seeking God's truth are essential mechanisms to bringing about this new life pattern. In every chapter, Clark reveals a pernicious "lie" and then its counterbalancing "truth" before supplying practical ways to combat destructive thoughts. One of her most compelling sections deals with how depression affects women's thinking: "God can't love me," "I am alone," "Things will never get better," and "Depression is a sin." Evangelical Christian women will find relief and help for their damaged thought patterns in Clark's advice. (Mar. 15)